Cheney - 1, Obama - 0

The CIA has confirmed that enhanced interrogation techniques--specifically water boarding--led directly to thwarting a plot to slam a plane into a building in LA:

The Central Intelligence Agency told CNSNews.com today that it stands by the assertion made in a May 30, 2005 Justice Department memo that the use of “enhanced techniques” of interrogation on al Qaeda leader Khalid Sheik Mohammed (KSM) -- including the use of waterboarding -- caused KSM to reveal information that allowed the U.S. government to thwart a planned attack on Los Angeles.

Before he was water boarded, when KSM was asked about planned attacks on the United States, he ominously told his CIA interrogators, “Soon, you will know.”

According to the previously classified May 30, 2005 Justice Department memo that was released by President Barack Obama last week, the thwarted attack -- which KSM called the “Second Wave”-- planned “ ‘to use East Asian operatives to crash a hijacked airliner into’ a building in Los Angeles.”

before the interrogations KSM was mute or cocky, afterward we had the intel that saved perhaps thousands of lives. It wasn't torture but was successful. I think that the majority of Americans can agree with that especially since many fly and many still remember 9/11 like it was yesterday. The can't even begin to imagine the fear that the people trapped on those planes that hit the WTC, Pentagon and the field in PA were experiencing and to make KSM uncomfortable five times as KSM himself said not the absurd 183)to get the info was the cost, I'm sure many would agree it was worth it.

This is a battle Obama doesn't want as Cheney will eviscerate him. When the docs are released that Cheney asked for, Obama will look pretty damn lame and even more amateurish than usual. This has the fingerprints of Rahm Emanuel all over it and he's definitely doing his boss a grave disservice by pushing this line and forcing the release of only the portion of the docs that made the Bush administration look bad.

This make Obama look bad in fact:

Before they were subjected to “enhanced techniques” of interrogation that included waterboarding, KSM and Zubaydah were not only uncooperative but also appeared contemptuous of the will of the American people to defend themselves.

“In particular, the CIA believes that it would have been unable to obtain critical information from numerous detainees, including KSM and Abu Zubaydah, without these enhanced techniques,” says the Justice Department memo. “Both KSM and Zubaydah had ‘expressed their belief that the general US population was ‘weak,’ lacked resilience, and would be unable to ‘do what was necessary’ to prevent the terrorists from succeeding in their goals.’ Indeed, before the CIA used enhanced techniques in its interrogation of KSM, KSM resisted giving any answers to questions about future attacks, simply noting, ‘Soon you will know.’”

More here and here.

On a similar note, Obama is looking like he will allow the prosecution of those who green lighted the water boarding at Gitmo in what will surely be a stunning blow to our intelligence services. The next guy we get with intel that is critical will not be subjected to the enhanced interrogation and Americans will die because we didn't get the info that would have saved them.

Obama has to stop acting on emotion and start acting like a man who has Americas best interests at heart. I'm not holding my breath.